Very Soon Now ...

Heard yesterday that my LX90 is in stock - going to pick it up on
Saturday :-)

I'm thinking of Jupiter for first light, hoping I'll get blown away in
comparison to my cheap 6" Newtonian - then I'll have a look at my
Nemesis - M3 (never managed to get my old scope on it because the finder
is absolute trash).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else is particularly good at
the moment ? I have a lot of great suggestions for Messiers from a
previous thread, reckon I'll work through a few of those ...

Also, is it just me or are the Moon and Venus looking particularly
beautiful together tonight ? I caught them in the twilight and took a
few snaps, I'll post later if any of them turn out ok.

regards,

Andrew

In message -service-com, Andrew
Cockburn writes

Also, is it just me or are the Moon and Venus looking particularly
beautiful together tonight ? I caught them in the twilight and took a
few snaps, I'll post later if any of them turn out ok.

They did look nice. They will be even closer tomorrow.
Sadly, my digital camera is in for repair. Which prompts me to ask
what's the group's opinion on the reliability of digital cameras in
general? My camera is in for repair after total failure after a couple
of years, the office camera (another Nikon Coolpix 995) is losing some
of the elements in its LCD display, and my brother's camera was replaced
under guarantee.
--
Save the Hubble Space Telescope!
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

In addition to Jupiter:-

Saturn
Venus
The moon should be well up by Saturday (and the clouds given that you've
bought a scope...)

These are really easy targets with the LX 90 and can all be done in one good
session.
M13 a little later in the evening
M3 (managed to raise this above the noise with the LPI but still not worthy
of publishing)
M81 and 82 (M81 also with the LPI but not worthy of publishing, mostly
noise..)
M64 Black Eye Galaxy (probably inspired by bootpolish on the
eyecup...s******)
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
M37 Pretty open cluster on low power earlier in the evening.
M38 Pretty Open Cluster earlier in the evening
M53 Small Globular Cluster
M60 Easy Galaxy
M63 Easy Galaxy
M66 Easy Galaxy
M92 Globular Cluster
M104 Sombrero Galaxy
M106 Galaxy

Bet you're pretty excited?

Later

Chris


"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
-service-com...
Heard yesterday that my LX90 is in stock - going to pick it up on
Saturday :-)

I'm thinking of Jupiter for first light, hoping I'll get blown away in
comparison to my cheap 6" Newtonian - then I'll have a look at my
Nemesis - M3 (never managed to get my old scope on it because the finder
is absolute trash).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else is particularly good at
the moment ? I have a lot of great suggestions for Messiers from a
previous thread, reckon I'll work through a few of those ...

Also, is it just me or are the Moon and Venus looking particularly
beautiful together tonight ? I caught them in the twilight and took a
few snaps, I'll post later if any of them turn out ok.

regards,

Andrew

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 21:52:59 +0100, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

In message -service-com, Andrew
Cockburn writes

Also, is it just me or are the Moon and Venus looking particularly
beautiful together tonight ? I caught them in the twilight and took a
few snaps, I'll post later if any of them turn out ok.

They did look nice. They will be even closer tomorrow.
Sadly, my digital camera is in for repair. Which prompts me to ask
what's the group's opinion on the reliability of digital cameras in
general? My camera is in for repair after total failure after a couple
of years, the office camera (another Nikon Coolpix 995) is losing some
of the elements in its LCD display, and my brother's camera was replaced
under guarantee.

What are you doing with them Jonathan?! Not had one fail on me yet
but my oldest is only 2001 vintage.

--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk
Astronomy and digital imaging website (last update 28-03-04)

Damn right I'm excited - its been 4 weeks !!

Last night was a beautiful clear still night here, I only hope the
weather holds ...

BTW, do you think that reasonable DSO imaging is beyond the scope
(pardon the pun !) of the LPI ? Or are you hopeful that with the right
technique you will get results ? I am defintely very interested in
imaging messiers and the like, and was hoping the LPI would do a halfway
decent job. If not, I might have to apply for permission to get a CCD
after the expense of the scope has been forgotton ...

Andrew

Chris Taylor wrote:
In addition to Jupiter:-

Saturn
Venus
The moon should be well up by Saturday (and the clouds given that you've
bought a scope...)

These are really easy targets with the LX 90 and can all be done in one good
session.
M13 a little later in the evening
M3 (managed to raise this above the noise with the LPI but still not worthy
of publishing)
M81 and 82 (M81 also with the LPI but not worthy of publishing, mostly
noise..)
M64 Black Eye Galaxy (probably inspired by bootpolish on the
eyecup...s******)
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
M37 Pretty open cluster on low power earlier in the evening.
M38 Pretty Open Cluster earlier in the evening
M53 Small Globular Cluster
M60 Easy Galaxy
M63 Easy Galaxy
M66 Easy Galaxy
M92 Globular Cluster
M104 Sombrero Galaxy
M106 Galaxy

Bet you're pretty excited?

Later

Chris


"Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message
-service-com...

Heard yesterday that my LX90 is in stock - going to pick it up on
Saturday :-)

I'm thinking of Jupiter for first light, hoping I'll get blown away in
comparison to my cheap 6" Newtonian - then I'll have a look at my
Nemesis - M3 (never managed to get my old scope on it because the finder
is absolute trash).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else is particularly good at
the moment ? I have a lot of great suggestions for Messiers from a
previous thread, reckon I'll work through a few of those ...

Also, is it just me or are the Moon and Venus looking particularly
beautiful together tonight ? I caught them in the twilight and took a
few snaps, I'll post later if any of them turn out ok.

regards,

Andrew

In message , Jonathan Silverlight
writes
In message -service-com, Andrew
Cockburn writes

Also, is it just me or are the Moon and Venus looking particularly
beautiful together tonight ? I caught them in the twilight and took a
few snaps, I'll post later if any of them turn out ok.

They did look nice. They will be even closer tomorrow.
Sadly, my digital camera is in for repair. Which prompts me to ask
what's the group's opinion on the reliability of digital cameras in
general?

I can only speak of the ones I have used extensively - Kodak DC120 and
Canon Ixus V. Both have been rock solid and the Kodak still works - I
don't often use it these days (though it still has some advantages for
tethered macro work).

I'd say the failure rate for image capture was typically 1 in 10000 on
most models though a few rogue models are much worse. Abuse by users is
usually implicated in serious data loss.

My camera is in for repair after total failure after a couple of
years, the office camera (another Nikon Coolpix 995) is losing some of
the elements in its LCD display, and my brother's camera was replaced
under guarantee.

Ones with flexible bits and hinges that bend out to carry LCDs seem to
be a bit more susceptible to mechanical failure. Particularly in a work
environment where people don't always look after things.

Even classical film camera do not like being dropped onto concrete.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 17:14:04 +0100, Andrew Cockburn
wrote:

Horrors ! Put a Horlicks lid on my new scope ? Never ! Think I'll get a
"malted milk beverage container end-piece" instead - far more technical !

Nothing less than an organic peanut butter lid will do for my 'scope.
:-)
- Mike